


Society: A Gamer Will Rise

by twist1



Series: Society [1]
Category: Original Work, OurSociety, Society A Gamer Will Rise, SocietyAGamerWillRise, society - Fandom
Genre: Gamers, Gaming, Gen, Meme, Memes, Multi, Other, Parody, YA, YA parody, gamers rise up - Freeform, virgin vs chad, young adult
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-06-15 21:09:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15421644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twist1/pseuds/twist1
Summary: In a world were your social standing as either a Chad or a Virgin is determined at birth, one oppressed gamer must rise up.





	1. Game Start.1

**Author's Note:**

> This was a mistake.

“We don’t have all day, Norman. Come on, give us your answer,” he said with just a hint of smugness coming through his voice.

I woke up in a startle, glancing around the classroom realizing what had just transpired. I had drifted off in the middle of class again. Behind me there was the sound of muffled snickering. I turned towards the front of the classroom, where Mr. Harris was looking at me.

I remembered what we had been doing moments prior - studying the beta uprising. I was thinking about my response before I heard Mr. Harris sign with an exaggerated demeanor.

“Stay after class, Norman,” he said.

I swore inside my head. Why the teachers always had it out for me, I would never know. I watched Mr. Harris look around the class for a student. 

He called out to the room, “Does anybody else have an answer?"

A shorter student raised his hand in the air. He held it in place for nearly a minute before the teacher finally relented, and called on him.

“Yes, Tim?” Mr Harris said with some disdain.

Tim was a small fellow with choppy black hair who wore a pair of auburn colored glasses that were oddly proportioned, and were slipping off the end of his oddly shaped nose, which didn’t flatter his unfortunate facial complexion.

“Internet forums would, uh, be the correct answer” he said, nervously stuttering out the response.

“That is correct as the-” suddenly the blaring of the bell dismissed us for the day. ”The bell doesn’t dismiss you, I dismiss YOU!” said Mr. Harris in a feeble attempt to stop the class from spilling out into the hallway.

I slipped out of the classroom and into the crowd. I walked out into the hallways and overlooked the usual scene. This place never changed, but it being a universal constant for all teens was something that should’ve never had happened. Whoever had the smart idea to stick a bunch of young people in the same building for seven hours a day was ignorant at best. 

I heard a loud crash and glanced back. A familiar sight greeted me. A large, almost inhumanly muscular, young man was towering over somebody.

”Give it-, I SAID GIVE IT!” cried out Tim who was laying on the floor with his back slouched against his open locker.

“Nah,” said Brad as he stuffed the paper into his own bag. “Your kind needs to know their place in our world,” Brad said with an over the top cackle. He finished his point by shoving Tim inside of his own locker, leaving him to cry inside for someone to rescue him.

I looked away before Brad caught me looking at him. In terms of placement, while I was higher than Tim, I paled in comparison to those like Brad. I didn’t choose the system, so I didn’t feel that guilty over what had just transpired. I quickly left the school compound, not wanting to draw anymore attention to myself after the earlier incident in class.

Walking down the street after school was somehow even more of a depressing sight than the usual eight to three confinement. The class divide was somewhat of a jarring sight. A man, in his mid thirties, approached me. His disheveled appearance, and appalling posture didn’t convey a confident man. 

“Could you spare me-” I ignored him and rushed past, I couldn’t miss my ride afterall.

As I approached my bus stop, I saw my usual plain grey bus arrive. I walked up the steps into the bus, glancing over the color scheme that was designated for those like me. Nondescript grey.

“License” the driver spat at me. 

I fumbled through my pockets for the grey card. By the time I pulled it out I was already attracting some angry glares from the other passengers. I scanned it and hurried to take my seat.

I watched massive holograms play as the bus flew between street corners along its designated path. Advertisements, news from the capital government, and all too helpful encouragements to obey local laws. The usual programming.

I left the bus when we pulled up at my stop. Walking down the street towards my suburban neighborhood always felt uneasy. Rows of identical homes with white picket fences greeted me, with the sign ‘Summer Leaf Valley’ at the front of the neighborhood. When we first moved here, I always used to get lost when walking back to my house.

Sighing with relief and throwing my jacket to the side, I crept up into my room. The rest of the evening would be peaceful, since my parents worked evening shifts after all. Pushing the startup button on my laptop, I restfully collapsed into my computer chair. Once the initial boot up had finished I opened my web browser to the ‘Shadow Web,’ as most of the general public knew it. I clicked on my usual haunt, the ‘Planet Crash’ forums. 

I observed the various boards of the forum. Creative Writing, Sci-Fi, Animation and Technology were all above where I wanted go, and I scrolled past them quickly. I entered the MISC board, looking to see what threads were at the top today. The MISC board was one of those rare boards that was so obscure most hadn’t found it. This, in turn, created something of a cesspool where the same tired arguments repeated themselves, day in and day out. 

I scrolled past the first couple of topics before clicking on a somewhat political one. This thread, in particular, had gained significant traction compared to others that day. The thread was complaining about the president, not unusual on sites like this one that attracted such a ‘unique’ crowd. Sentiments like ‘FUCK CHAD’ and image macros depicting the upper classes or various government figure heads in humiliating situations were common.

Of course, there was just as much vitriol being flung back at them by the other side. I skimmed through the thread for a little bit, then clicked out. You can only take so much pointless shouting in one day.

I decided to hop into the IRC to talk with some of my internet friends. As I entered the chat, I was bombarded with messages. As line after line of excitement and hype flew by, I realized what was going on. Someone had found one of the forgotten games from years ago! Everybody was rushing to download the files and gear up. A new game hadn’t been uncovered for a long, long time. I immediately hit the download link, and frantically dug out my controller from under the floorboards. When I looked back, though, I saw that something else had been downloaded as well.

Damn it, this computer had cost a shit ton of money, and I wouldn’t be able to pay for a new one if it got bricked. I immediately moved to delete it, but to my horror it was already active. A loading meter popped up on my screen, and I frantically tried to shut down the program. Before I could it finished and a window popped up. 

Looking at the image that had appeared on my screen, I almost wanted to laugh.

The photo that had now covered the screen was ridiculous, in a disturbing way. It showed a collage of images of a man wearing various clown style garbs. At the bottom of the image it simply said ‘Gamers rise up’ in a wavy, neon-green font.. 

I tried to click onto the user that had sent me the image. The username was quite peculiar,simply a bunch of random numbers, probably because of not wanting to be traced. Scowling, I went back to the IRC to ask who the hell was messing with me, but I couldn’t connect. 

Trying to dismiss the incident entirely, looked back over at the game - but the download had stopped. A glance at the toolbar confirmed it - I’d lost connection entirely.. I was moderately sure that my father had paid for internet this month. I rushed downstairs to see what was going on. This was disastrous, to say the least. Finding a new game was a rare event, and it was never long before the government started cracking down on links to it. Hopefully it was just some company’s server getting knocked out by a hurricane or something, and it wasn’t the Citchadel about to kick down my door after cutting off my connection. 

I turned on the TV to see what had just happened. The channel was on a Foulball match, so I tried clicking to a news channel. No dice. I tried another channel. Nothing. Every channel was showing the Foulball match.

Looking at the game, it suddenly hit me. It was the final match of the season. The government sponsored event. All other forms of entertainment had been turned off just for this.

“FUCK!” I screamed out, in an impotent rage. Why does society have it out for gamers? I thought, quietly seething with pure rage. clenching my hands into fists, as the blood rushed to my head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Gitaxian, and CTY/yeet for editing.


	2. Game Start.2

I felt light-headed. What was I supposed to do now? I had games to play.Some days I wished I had been born a chad or a virgin, but I knew deep down that even though the gamer path was a rough one I didn’t belong anywhere there wasn’t a control stick I could rest my greasy thumbs over.

Thankfully, I had a backup. My first experience with gaming was with a handheld, a rare console that had survived the purge after the beta uprising. It was hidden under a board in the basement. I stood up to head down, but then heard a ping from my phone. 

Looking at it, I felt a chill running down my spine.

Citchadel INBOUND

This wasn’t going to be an easy day, was it. 

Immediately I ran upstairs, tripping over myself on the top step, I stumbled into my room. What should I grab, FUCK there was too much stuff. I grabbed my backpack and started throwing in supplies. I couldn’t bring my PC with me, but I couldn’t leave behind evidence I had been gaming. I had a backup hard drive with all my files that I tossed into the backpack, and started the computer on wiping itself. I would also need to grab my external battery - the Citchadel kept a careful watch on power consumption, so when I was gaming I used it instead. 

Now I just needed one last thing - the handheld. I couldn’t risk anybody finding it. The punishment for carrying such a device was so severe that I only pulled it out when I was absolutely sure it was safe. If the Citchadel found it, I was toast.

I ran downstairs, but suddenly the entire house started shaking. Shit, had they arrived already? I thought I at least had some time to spare, but this was looking like game over. I began running through the options in my head. There had to be a way to get out without leaving the handheld behind. 

Crash!

I heard the sound of them breaking through whatever they were doing, I had to run. 

“Lock and Load boys, we gotta a gamer round these parts” snarled a deep voice from the upper floor of my house. “Remember, this house isn’t just another noob getting pwned by the big guy. The boss wants something important from his computer. FIND IT AT ALL COSTS!” 

“Y-yes C-captain Tad,” I heard a group of Citchadel agents respond back with a hint of fear. 

What did I have that was so important? I racked my brain as I raced down to the basement. I was just a normal kid. Why would I have anything that the Citchadel, of all people, would want. Gaming in my free time didn’t make me some sort of clown mocking the government or threat to society, right?

I had to shake those thoughts away. I needed to focus on escaping pronto. Thinking at my fate If I didn’t manage to pull this win, turned my stomach. 

I pried up a floorboard, grabbed the handheld from under it, and ran back to the stairs.

CRASH!

A towering, muscular figure, crashed through the floor overhead. He bore a massive hammer as tall, if not taller than himself. The head was coated in a glowing energy field with text flashing across it too fast to read.Could that be a banhammer? I thought those had been retired after the beta uprising, and nobody I knew had ever seen one. . Whatever they were looking for, they were serious about finding it. 

“NORMAN EVERMIN! YOU ARE NOW IN THE CUSTODY OF THE Citchadel. IF YOU MOVE ANOTHER STEP, I’M AUTHORIZED TO USE LETHAL FORCE.” the man roared in a gravelly voice, smirking sadistically. He was wearing a bright red suit of power armor with “Ouch.#4” written on it. Fantastic, it was the latest model.

We stared at each other for a moment. I tensed up. His smirk turned into a wide grin.  
We both began moving at the same time. I leapt back, turning and running up the stairwell as he barreled towards me. I heard the hammer come crashing down where I had been standing a split second ago.

I didn’t want this. I never wanted it to end up like this. If I had just never found that fucking handheld, my life would’ve been normal.

“Keep it together, Norman” I muttered to myself. 

I ran to the front door. . Two guards were waiting with their swords drawn.I halted in front of them, frozen with fear.

“Target has been located, require backup” a guard muttered into his helmet.

They almost seemed scared of me in a way. It was weird. I was a shrimpy looking sixteen year old. Why on earth would these ultra-muscular chads scared of me. I posed no threat whatsoever!

Behind me, I heard the entire back half of the house come crashing down. Out of the dust strode the banhammer-wielding captain. “Got you now.” he stated, with that same jovial grin. 

I tried to think of a way out. What did I have in my bag? My backup hard drive, a handheld, some snacks, spare clothes, and my portable battery. Wait I had my portable battery in there. Of course! The battery was a black market model that could hold more energy than the entire house would use in a day, but it wasn’t exactly stable. It was fully charged for my earlier gaming session. If I could just wait for the right opening, I might be able to escape. 

I reached back into my backpack. The two guards behind me flinched, but the captain began to run towards me as he raised the massive hammer over his head. “OH NO YOU DON’T, GAMER!” he snarled. I had no time to get out of the way. As the crackling head of the hammer came down, I threw the battery and raised my hands to shield my face. It was all or nothing.

The battery made contact with the energy field surrounding the hammer. There was a crackling white flash, and I felt myself flying through the air. Still blinded by the battery’s explosion, the last thing I felt before blacking out was myself slamming hard into one of the guards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much thanks to Gitaxian, for editing, revising and overall help.


	3. Game Start.3

When I came to, I couldn’t see a thing. I could feel a strip of fabric over my eyes, and ropes on my wrists and ankles holding me in a chair. “Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. I couldn’t hear anyone else around, but I figured I didn’t have much time. I tried to pull free of the ropes, but I wasn’t particularly strong and they weren’t particularly weak. I tried throwing my weight to the side, but the seat wouldn’t budge. I began to panic. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck.” Whatever the Citchadel was going to do to me, I knew it wouldn’t be good. My only option was to convince them I wasn’t a gamer.

A few agonizing minutes later, I head the door open.

“Look, whatever you think I did, I’m innocent.” I stated in what I hoped was a confident tone. 

“Looks like the newb’s awake.” I heard a gruff voice state. “He seems to think we’re Chads” he said cackling. 

Then, I heard a much softer voice behind me. “Don’t be rude to our guests, Dew.”

I lurched forwards, startled. I hadn’t heard any movement, but the voice was undeniably coming from right behind me. 

“Let us introduce ourselves.”

One of them pulled the blindfold off my head. My eyes took a moment to adjust to the harsh light in the room, revealing two figures standing in front of a large television.

The figure on the left, the source of the gruff voice, was wearing jeans and a simple t-shirt with an energy drink logo on it.

“I’m Dew, and he’s Kuro.” he spat.

“I’m Norman” I responded regretting it a second latter. Who were these guys?

The other figure who was of a larger size, was more elaborately dressed. He was wearing a black fedora, pointed sunglasses, and a broad trench coat to match the hat. Beneath it was a shirt with some slogan in a foreign language on it. That confirmed these weren’t Chads; the Citchadel banned any unapproved cultural elements.

“That was an impressive escape attempt, friend. Captain Tad is the most dangerous of the Citchadel’s enforcers, and you were nearly able to kill him.” he said.

“Yep. They went after everyone in your little chat group, and you were the only one to make it out. It’s almost a little suspicious, in fact.” Dew stated.

I tried to keep a calm facade, but I was reeling internally. They got everyone? What the hell?

“So you guys are gamers too?” I asked.

“I’m afraid we’re asking the questions here.” Said Kuro. We also cannot trust you until you prove you’re a true gamer. If you win, we can help you. If you fail, well, you’ll have to try your luck evading the Citchadel on your own.”

He stepped aside, revealing an old console hooked up to the TV.

“You have three tries to beat my friend here. Make them count.”

Suddenly he was behind me again, undoing my bindings while Dew began booting up the game. 

Dew passed me the controller. I nearly dropped it when I grabbed it - my hands were shaking. My house had been destroyed, all my gear was gone, and everyone I could trust had vanished. My only option was to win and hope whoever these guys were I could trust them. I shivered at the thought of the alternative. 

The game of choice was one I’d never heard of. All the text was in the same language as Kuro’s shirt. 

“Do you seriously expect me to play a game I can’t even read?” I asked.

“You’ll be fine, I’m sure you’ve played a fighting game before.” Dew replied.

He advanced to the character select. I was greeted by a selection of cartoonish schoolgirls in revealing outfits. I picked a character with short brown hair wearing a glowing green suit, while Dew selected one in in lacey pink attire.

The in game announcer shouted something that I could only presume meant ‘Match Start!’ Immediately, Dew’s character came flying towards mine. I had no idea how this game’s controls worked, and began mashing buttons in a panic. He quickly pummeled me into submission. Another message flashed across the screen, and we were shunted back to the character select menu.

Dew laughed arrogantly. “Come on, you can do better than that!”

“Two more chances.” Kuro gently reminded me.

“Damn it, just shut up and let me focus.” I replied tersely.

This time, I tried to play defensively. I focused on blocking Dew’s attacks and poking in for little bits of damage when I could. I thought I was doing pretty well for a moment, but then I noticed a meter below his character’s HP bar that went up every time he hit my blocks. I didn’t know what it was for, but I knew it wasn’t good.

“Come on, this is pathetic. Stop wasting my time.” he taunted.

I had to do something. I thought I’d found an opening and went in for a heavy attack, but he countered and then launched into a combo. He juggled me for a moment to finish filling up the meter, then spent it to unleash a massive laser beam that finished me off.

“Last chance.” Kuro stated. Dew simply smiled.

This is bullshit. I thought to myself. Everything is bullshit. This goddamn farce of a “test,” the Citchadel deciding to raid my house for some forsaken reason, and everyone in this entire fucking society that hates gamers. It’s all fucking bullshit.

Oh fuck, I zoned out. I’d been so focused on my anger that I’d been playing on autopilot. But when I focused back in on the game, I realized I was winning! I had Dew pressed into the corner, and my own super meter was nearly full. I could do this! I moved in as if I was attempting the same move that had cost me the last round, but when Dew attempted to counter I was ready. I blocked, then launched a flurry of fast attacks to fill my meter.

“Damn!” Dew cursed.

I unleashed my super attack. My character manifested a massive sword, and sliced his in half with a single blow. As the gratuitously gory animation played, Dew flung his controller to the ground. 

“Guess I owe you ten Chadits, Kuro.” he muttered.

“Great, I’ve passed your stupid test.” I said. “Now who the hell are you guys?”

“It would be easier to show you.” replied Kuro. “Through here.”

He walked over to the door, and pressed a series of buttons on what looked like an NES controller embedded into the wall before opening it. I followed him and Dew through the door.

We were on a balcony overlooking a huge room. All along three of the walls, various televisions were set up - and at every one, people were gaming. The fourth was a huge hangar door, open and revealing a massive complex stretching into the distance. A pair of trucks were parked in the doorway, and the room bustled with activity as people carried all kinds of supplies, from food to game consoles, out of them.

“Welcome to the Uprising, Norman.” Kuro announced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Gitaxian for helping with editing and other tasks.


	4. Game Start.4

I stood in stunned amazement. How the hell had they gotten their hands on this loot?

“Hey Norman, here’s your bag,” Kuro said next to me.

He passed my bag over with a small toss. I checked it rapidly to see if anything had been missing. Everything seemed to be in order except for my battery. Fucking Citchadel had made me use it, but the situation had required it after all.

Still, though I was happy my hard drive was in tip-top condition. I looked at it, with a sense of longing. It reminded me of my previous life before the incident earlier had transpired. 

“Hey, the fuck you got over there?” Dew yelled out.

“Just my backup - you know I don’t exactly have a computer anymore right?”

“Just for the record, the choice that we’d save you from the Citchadel wasn’t mine. Kuro was insistent on it. I think if a gamer isn’t good enough to protect their own teeth, they ain’t good enough to be working with the Society of Gamers.”

“Hey, quiet it down you two-” Kuro in a feeble attempt to try to stop the rising tensions

“Fuck off, Kuro” Dew snarled at Kuro, without stopping the death glare in my direction. 

“We need to see the director at any rate,” Kuro announced to us

“Let’s go talk to Avery first. Don’t want to interrupt the director if they are busy.” Dew said pushing past me, walking away.

We passed the oncoming workers, who were unloading boxes from the supply trucks. They were all young men wearing earbuds, walking around with their heads tilted towards the floor. They acted as if they didn’t want us to even notice that they were there, and so they tried to do their work duties as fast as possible.

“That's the team of virgins, they’re just happy that we even have a safe place for them to stay,” remarked Dew.

“I question the ethical choices of having them work here. It’s not that different from owning slaves, no?” I responded back.

“Well, the higher-ups at Chadopolis cull any virgin that strays out of line. The government doesn’t want any more Neets. The epidemic is already bad enough,” said Kuro.

I wasn’t going to be the one to judge the set up that they were running here. I figured that I could just stay here long enough to get myself back up on my own two feet, before going back to my usual loner lifestyle.

We approached a giant passageway set up just a little ways away from where the trucks unloaded gear. The entrance was littered with various gadgets and gizmos. I spotted miscellaneous control sticks laying around on the floor, looking beaten and battered. There were all sorts of modified gaming gear hanging across the walls, looking as if it had been tampered, modded in a way. 

Our trio found ourselves in the center of the establishment. Two girls were huddled around a workstation, exchanging conversation with one another. The one to my right sported pink hair of a medium cut with a multitude of stripes and accents covering the whole style. She sported a long jacket that was outfitted with a multitude of pockets. The jacket looked quite cool; I wouldn’t mind owning one myself.

The one to my left was slightly shorter than her. She wore a massive hoodie that covered her short stature. Her hair was long and black with a small blue highlight and looked slightly unkempt.

“Just the person I wanted to see today. You returned rather quickly from your mission Dew” the short one replied with an exasperated demeanor. 

“If I ain’t playing this game to the best of my ability, what's even the point?” Dew said, smirking.

Interesting that even Dew had somebody he could let his ‘guard’ down around. He never seemed the type to me to joke around like that, but maybe even he had a joking side.

“Norman, Avery is the one on the right, while Cyla is by the left side” Kuro whispered to me, in a barely audible tone.

“H-hey are you girls gamers as well?” I asked attempting at conversation, before realizing what I had just said.

“Dumbass, where the fuck do you think we are?” Dew died with laughter.

Fuck, It was just like me to make an awkward first impression. Things on the net were far easier than any IRL escapades.

“I mean, I've picked up a controller or two in my life,” Fuchsia said with a chuckle. “I am the person in charge of modding after all”.

A Modder! I’d only heard old stories about them through my late night research sessions. They were some of the most important people in the gaming scene, all those years ago. I had thought that most of the remaining ones had either been arrested by the Citchadel or had stayed hidden from our society, tinkering on whatever hardware they were upgrading. Seems like a few had stuck around.

“I’m the tech person in this place, gets really tiring dealing with all this code, y’know. I wish my hacking skills could get up to snuff though” Cyla said with a sigh.

“Practice makes perfect?” I said in a feeble attempt to connect with her.

“Why’d you report here anyway Dew? You should’ve gone to mission control center,” Avery asked.

“Gotta get you to check out Normans hard drive,” Dew said while giving me a slight shove in her direction.

Asshole.

I took out the drive from my sack and passed it towards her. She loaded it into the giant monitor that overlooked the work table, along with the various scattered equipment.

Cyla took over her position and started tapping at the keyboard laid out in front of her. She tapped through the screens, before coming to a certain file location. Games. 

“You have some rare stuff in here, count me impressed,” Avery said with a grin while giving me a light punch in a jovial manner.

“You don’t get all that stuff without grinding thousands of hours into the craft. Some of those took me years to find, games only a couple people in the entire world have played.”

Cyla was tapping through the screens at a mad rate until she paused at something. The file didn’t have a name. Creepy. 

I saw her complexion change at the sight of the file. She held her finger over the mouse, debating if she should click it before her curiosity got the better of her.

The program started up immediately. I recognized it, it was the one that I had tried a little while ago before I found myself into this entire mess with the Citchadel.

The clowns on the screen looked even more demonic then I had noticed before, dancing around in their stylized garbs. I spotted something at the bottom of the screen.  
In the small text, it read ‘Game Start’. 

“Hey Cyla, I-I don’t think you should click that” I tried stopping her. 

“Dumbass this is a game we’ve never seen before, of course, she’s going to click it,” said Dew.

Well, fuck me, and my rationality.

Even though the game freaked me out, I was curious. I’ve never seen a program like this before, and the clowns as much as they were disturbing held a sort of whimsical nature.

She clicked the button.

Everybody seemed to hold their breath for a few seconds. Nothing happened. She clicked again. Nothing.

I let out a long sigh. Why did I get worried in the first place, I tried it at my house already and nothing happened. 

Cyla started searching around the program for a solution. Suddenly, her face lit up. She had figured it out.

“Well?” we all asked in unison.

“This game, I don’t know why, but it requires Citchadel technology” 

“How’s that good news? We’ve never seen a game like this before, and we need Citchadel tech to play it? Are you fucking kidding me?” Dew snarled.

“I mean, it would be hard but not impossible,” Avery said. 

“What do you mean exactly?” Kuro asked her.

I’m saying that we could, hypothetically, get the tech we need from a Citchadel base.” 

The idea was insane, but at the end of the, we were gamers. We're a group of people who will sit for hours, days, even weeks on end performing some of the hardest, most mentally demanding tasks. Over, and over, and for nothing more than a little digital token saying that we did. To us? This was just another boss fight.

“I’m in. There's nothing I want more than to take down the Citchadel, after what they did to my old gaming group. This game right here? This is just the first step. We need to take them down, they've made us gamers suffer for far, far too long” I declared to the group. 

The girls nodded their heads at me, and Kuro grinned. Now it was only Dew I had to convince. 

I looked towards him, wondering what he was going to say.

His brow quivered for a second, before relaxing.

“I never thought I would agree with this guy, but there is a game on the line here. I’m willing to give this mission a shot if it lets us get it, but with one condition. He doesn’t pull the shots this mission, I do”.

What? This game was on my Hard Drive? Who the hell did he think he was?

“Fine, but I get to try it out first” I responded back at him.

“Whatever,” he said with a sigh. 

“Guys, stop arguing we need to prepare for the mission,” Kuro told us.

“We strike in two days, first gotta show the newb the ropes around here,” Dew said, ignoring Kuro’s remark.

I hoped that my first mission would be a success. I had my gamer rep on the line. The thing was, how much could I rely on these guys? They were a pretty weird bunch, but I couldn’t deny the same thing could be said for myself. 

“Let me take you to your room Norman, I think you’ll enjoy it,” Kuro whispered to me.

This seemed like a perfect opportunity to slip away. Dew seemed to be deep in conversation with Avery, asking her to look at some of his weapons. I caught Cyla looking at me for a half second before she nervously walked out of the room. I had hoped to get to know her, but that could wait until later.

Kuro and I walked out of the modding center, journeying across to a separate building connected by a long overhanging hallway. The passageway was made of shiny metallic  
metal, the type that picked up your reflection if you walked past it. I cringed thinking about how the girls had seen my disheveled appearance earlier. I never managed to make good first impressions.

We stopped at the top of the balcony. We looked from our overhead position at the people down below. Rows of people, gamers, sat at their battle stations. They seemed to be enjoying a competitive multiplayer game, the type that the servers would have shut down long ago. Did they have their own server setup just for themselves? Sweet.

Walking down the stairwell, I got a better look at the group. They were sweating profusely, and their fingers danced elegantly across their keyboards. I guess these were the true pro gamers, the cream of the crop in the Society of Gamers. 

If any of them thought they could take me on, they would face a humiliating demise. 

“Norman, through here,” he said, as we approached one of many doors in the complex.

“This is going to be your liv-, gaming quarters. You have a brand new setup in here, minus the desktop. Avery should be installing your hard drive into a unit after Cyla tries to crack the code behind that game. I’d recommend getting some shut-eye, lord knows it’s been a long day” 

“Thanks, Kuro,” I told him as he gave me a nod and left.

So this was my new life. It was only yesterday that I was just another loser at school, drifting through life on autopilot. Now I had a chance. A way to get back at the people who had destroyed my life. My friend's lives were robbed from them. I didn’t know how long I was going to stay at the Society of Gamers, but as long as I could overthrow this oppressive society of ours, I had to try my hardest. 

 

Status report for user Cyl4 

Error 340: No gateway via the program   
Average Gamer skill In SOG: Variable (?)   
Additions to the SOG: + 1  
Chadopolis: No notable events   
Status of Citchadel: Activity 87% increase compared to the previous transcript

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Gitaxian for doing some editing


	5. Game Start.5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is with a heavy heart, I announce a hiatus to Society. Will Society update again? Probably at some point, but I'm not working on it for the short-term future at the moment.

“Norman, don’t blow it on your first mission,” said Cyla. I don’t know how to say this lightly, but if you fail- you’ll be mocked by the entire organization.

“I know,” I spoke with a sense of false bravado. 

The last two days I had done nothing but train. We were attacking a Citchadel facility center. The entire complex was filled with top of the line security, one missed step and we would suffer fates worse than death.

Nobody knew that much about the Citchadel facilities. The type of horror stories that the occasional prisoner told if they escaped turned the stomachs of gamers across the globe. Even then, there weren’t that many stories to tell. As far as I knew, nobody had managed to pull off a successful escape in decades. 

During the time before the mission, I had bonded with some of the others. They were all broken people. Years of riots, biological experimentation and violence had broken down most hope that anyone initially seemed to foster when they first picked up that controller. 

The ones who had all of their sanity intact? They were the scariest of us all. 

Cyla and I had bordered the hovering jet. It was outfitted to fit a small building worth of people, a large upgrade from the initial capacity size. The inside held various weapons, modded to be more deadly than your average black market equipment. 

I saw a weapon that sparked my interest. An NES Zapper! It looked a little different then it’s the first rendition, bearing a contractible switchblade at the barrel of the gun. I picked it up and hooked it onto the side of my belt. 

Avery had just finished making my new outfit, a protective ‘clown’ themed garb stylized with a black coat of paint. The costume was a metaphorical middle finger to the Citchadel, mocking their attempts to silence my fellow gamers. I’d chosen the code name ‘Jester’ to bring this persona to life. I didn’t want the Citchadel to trace my real identity to the Society of Gamers. 

Some of the people I was working with had their identities leaked, causing the Citchadel to go after their friends and families. The Citchadel could never be too cautious when it came to gamers. Others had acted as their gaming personas for so long, that any person under the mask had been long gone.

I sat on the row of benches, right next to some other gamers. They were all wearing protective armor, designed with gamer memorabilia. Some of the more notable members had different designs like Dew and Kuro. A perk for being an old member of the organization. I was happy that Avery agreed with me that I needed a unique style of dress, with my gaming prowess I needed something to stand out from the crowd. You think I’m your average nerd down the block?

The plane flung through the sky at a breakneck pace, with clouds disintegrating as we charged through the horizon. Eventually, we came to a halting spot, and a cautious descend into the world below.

We had arrived inside Chadopolis. 

Our pilot had the right idea to stop the plane outside of the general chad domain. Our collective unit emerged and stepped onto this off beaten road, only a stone's throw away from the Citchadel facility. 

Weapons were being passed around, gaming strategy guides slipped into trench coat pocket, and energizing drinks were being slurped down. 

Looking next to me I saw Dew panting, in the middle of the long-grassed pathway next to the road. Cans littered around him as he got more and more reckless. I saw a glint in his eye. He wasn’t messing around. I feared his leadership of this mission, it was almost certainly going to be a disaster. 

“Listen up CHUMPS,” He cackled maniacally. I had never seen someone cackle in such a ridiculously cartoon manner. 

“This mission is on MY orders, I’m leading this. Not Cyla, not Kuro, and NOT Jester,” he announced to the crowd, with the last remark being briefly snarled in my direction. “I’ve been working in the Society of Gamers for years, the upper management never let me have leadership until now. Those cowards FEARED that I would undermine all their expert strategy guides and walkthroughs. Don’t give me that fucking bullshit. Any gamer who relies on outside help is a disgrace”. 

“I never wanted this day to transpire,” Kuro muttered at my left side. 

“If everything is clear about my leadership, let’s go destroy this pathetic excuse of a facility, and regain MY city”.

Murmurs were heard from the group, not wanting to speak too loud in fear of getting overheard by Dew. I couldn’t exactly say that Dew had that natural leading charisms, the type that festered in the majority of Chads.

Our group approached the building. It stood at a colossal size, in the middle of the lonely field that we all were positioned in. The complex balanced the ratio between a horrifying ward and a cookie cutter corporation.

“I think we’re over our heads on this,” a fellow gamer whispered to me.

“Nonsense,” Dew snarled. “They’ve never seen me at my peak skill. Those cowards will shake in their fucking boots”.

Calling the Chads cowards? Pretty bold.

Cyla approached the rest of the team, where she had been following a little ways behind, lost in thought. 

“I’m glad we’re doing a stealth plan for a change, too many gamers are killed by reckless behavior because of their fragile egos. Trying to act as if they have something to prove to the world,” she said with a sigh.

“This mission will be a success, guarantee it,” I said, though I wasn’t so sure of the validity of the statement.

Dew slipped a contraption out of his backpack. A futuristic-looking contraption, probably conceived of by Avery and built by the team of virgins back at the SOG.  
Dew flung it at the wall of the building, and it latched on to it, with a sense of stretchy elasticity. The ooze around the device was spreading over the entire wall before it went static.

“GET BACK!,” Dew shouted at us.

With the split-second warning we tried getting out of the way, but the bomb exploded way too close to us. 

I closed my eyes, before opening them to the sound of Dew heartily laughing.

“You losers actually thought it was going to have a massive detonation, but it was an extremely controlled explosion. You think I’m so much of an idiot that I’d off myself?” he said dying of laughter.

Hilarious. 

“Ignore Dew’s antics, we gotta focus,” Cyla said to me.

Right, couldn’t let a toxic gamer like him disrupt our mission. There was a lot at stake here, I wasn’t going to let some asshole wreck it for the rest of us.

Our squad moved into the building, from the gaping hole in the side, with small pieces of charcoal floating around the air. A gamer walking at the back of the group erupted into a coughing fit, as his buddy tried to silence him, but slugging him in the face.

This was supposed to be a stealth mission, but after Dew’s ear-piercing screams, I was surprised that we hadn’t been pounded into the pavement by the security chads.

The sight that emerged for us was like nothing that I had never seen before. Gone was the usual dingy looking hallways and decor, the pathways in this place were straight out of a nightmare riffic exaggerated horror film. I almost questioned the lack of a maniac doctor walking around in a massive lab coat, with an assortment of peculiar vials spilling out of his pockets.

The bright white blinded a couple of the more introverted of us in the team, before they finally seemed to adjust to the translucent walls, and sterile environment that we had found ourselves in.

Dew with a triumphant sense of swagger, stomped violently through the pathway. He gestured with his hand, beckoning us to come to him. The rest of us followed through the newly made pathway, to explore this strange and mysterious facility.

I tried to ignore the bickering from some of the more immature members of the team. This was no time for such jovial manners, we were in the dragons den. 

On the sides of the walkway, translucent holographic screens, of standard, nondescript notoriety, covering up whatever loomed in the connected rooms to the main corridor. Seemed like they required some sort of gateway that requires top-level security clearance to enter the area.

Our group continued to journey through the hallway before moving up the expansive staircase that was waiting at the end of the hallway. Each step that we stepped on glistened with a pearly white texture, that dispersed upon a touch of our feet. We paused for a split second to note this abnormality, but when we did, well, everything went wrong.

The entire complex as far as we could see at least started flashing blinding shades of reds violently at every direction, blinking louder and faster with the corresponding wailing siren that bellowed in the background.

I saw my teammates reaching to cover their ears before something unexpected happened.

The staircase opened up, revealing a vast, haunting fall to the unseeable depths below. A sizeable amount of our squad dropped down through the trap, as they tried to scramble towards the top of the stairwell. 

I ran towards the top as my footing was lost with the disappearance of the steps. I closed my eyes and flung myself forwards the top. 

My outreached hand found a grasp as I hanged over the looming pit, inches away from an unfortunate demise. 

Cyla had caught my hand at the top of the stairwell. I was saved! She pulled me up, and we both collapsed into a sweaty, exhausted pile of relief.

“T-that was a c-close one,” she panted at me.  
“Y-yeah, but what about all the gamers who didn’t make it?,” I managed to say between gasps of air, as I stood at the edge of the horrifying, ginormous trap door.

Dew stood at the top, looking a little shaken at the loss of our brothers in arms. 

“Listen up y'all, I know we might’ve suffered a mighty blow to our gaming spirits, but the plan ain’t foiled yet. All we have to do is get that flash drive to the Chad’s main system, activate it, and scram,” He said, looking a little less confident then the attempted morally uplifting speech, had portrayed. 

He quickly snapped out of his rut and guzzled some kind of beverage that was attached to his belt. Connected were multiple cans of different types and colors, all hanging onto the top of the line material that protected him from harm by any stray bullets. 

He bellowed a massive burp before casting the can aside, chucking it into the pit below, to fall to its unfortunate fate below. 

We trudged onwards. 

Going down the path we saw more angelic looking white walls, littering this maze of a complex. The red glowing from whatever kind of security system and its corresponding noise seemed to have died down from where we were at the time.

“We have to take down a Chad,” Dew spoke to us.

Everyone froze.

“B-but, D-dew-,” a gamer was cut off.

“THIS is the only way, we need a passcode to enter the locked parts of the complex. As much as we brag about our hacking ability in SOG, at the end of the day, you can’t bypass chad systems. It’s impossible. While this will be unpleasant, hard, and terrifying for the weaker members of our squad, everyone has to show their merit. Especially those who are newer members to our squad,” he finished the speech glaring in my direction. 

I eternally sighed.

The conversation was shut off by Cyla stopping the rest of us.  
“I’m getting a read on the scanners, a chad is approaching”.

Everyone froze.

Down the hall, there was a faint humming in the air. Steps shifted in the ground at his sheer mass. He lurched forward to the rest of our squad, panting and out of breath. Next to him walked his assistant, a captured virgin. He stood behind the chad cowering in fear of him. 

“T-the g-g-gamers are over there, Officer V-Vlad. 

“EXCELLENT,” his booming voice slurred the word.“You gamers, well, you’ve fought long and hard to get to this moment. What are you going to do now? Fight me?” Why, I haven’t been humored like this, since our very own Captain Tad captured an entire lot of you people. 

Dew trudged forward, walking past our entire team, that was cowering in fear.

His expression was confident and cocky. He walked all the way to Vlad and spat on the floor.

"Y'all should've stayed in your gross little man cave", roared Vlad the Mad Lad Chad. "Like the little disgusting basement dwellers you are."

All of a sudden, Vlad's head was struck by a stray energy drink, thrown by Dew. The can exploded with fluorescent green liquid shooting out all over the place, covering Vlad in the drink. He turned to the perpetrating gamer, having not budged an inch.

"Care to explain what the fuck kinda stunt you just tried to pull, you worm?" roared the big bad Chad, as he lifted his opposition by the neck.

"Do you know what concentrated Gamer Fuel does to the body?" retorted Dew without missing a beat.

"That doesn't answer my-"

As if on cue, the Mountain Dew had melted through the flesh and bones holding the once giant man together. In a matter of seconds, and without so much as a scream, all that laid upon the ground was a puddle of blood and energy drink. Nothing else remained of Vlad.

"Gamers rise up, bitch."

We all stood in stunned silence. 

Eventually, Proc, a well-respected member among the team spoke up.

“Where the hell did you get that kinda tech, Dew”

“Heh, you thought my little visit to Avery the other day was nothing,” he said in myself and Kuro’s direction. “ I’d been working with her for weeks to mod my energy drinks, give them a more, deadly edge. Now every one of those drinks can be drunk safely by us gamers, but Chads? It counters their biology perfectly,” he said with a jovial laugh.

Proc wandered over to the unpleasant sight of Vlad. Inside a slot in Vlad’s armor, Proc emerged holding something.

Security Clearance. 

Cheers went out from our squad. It wasn’t every day that a Chad was taken out. This was an occasion to remember. 

Amidst the cheers and celebration, Cyla spoke. “I think we’re forgetting someone,” she murmured.

Our attention snapped to the young man standing next to Vlad. He stood in frozen fear, not moving a muscle. 

Proc dashed across the floor of the complex, pinning the youth to the side of the wall. 

“Where is the main system located, tell us now, and we’ll let you go, without a hair on your head missing,” he spoke quietly, but still firm.

“It's just d-d-down the corridor and to the l-left. Y-you c-can’t miss it”.

Proc unpinned him, letting the poor soul breath a sigh of relief. 

“B-but n-not e-everything down that way is o-ok. You need to l-leave, while you still have the chance,” he pleaded. 

“No can do,” Dew walked next to Proc, stopping beside him. “We came here to take out these Chads, can’t be a loser like you, and cower in fear of their leadership forever.”

“Forgetting the mission already Dew,” Proc said with a tired look. 

“Nah, just not being a weak beta,” Dew changed his expression, snarling towards the pair's direction. “Any case wimp, you should scram. Let us gamers take care of the Chads. Know your place”.

The virgin trudged his way to the opposite route that we were taking and left without some much as a farewell.

Our group now bearing the Chad security pass, walked next to the giant door at the location we were told.

The door was shaped like a giant man's face, in a two-dimensional format. He had comical hair that looked like a cone-shaped object, and a jawline so strong, it could break a controller in half.

Proc walked up to the face and inserted the card. The ‘Chad’ like face swallowed the card whole and started making a sequence of strange, mechanical noises, before opening up to the sight that the inside held.

Rows, upon rows of jail cells, lined the interior of the building. Inside the cages were infants inserted in cubicles, some playing in a type of play area. One giant baby lurched forward off the slide, that he rode, knocking into a small shriveled looking infant, knocking him to the ground. The baby started beating its chest manically as the baby on the bottom cried, limping around the floor.

The closer we looked, there appeared to be some sort of divide between the babies. The shriveled, disgusting looking, black-haired ones, and the pudgy, big blond babies.

Our mouths were agape. Could this be how they tested if children were virgins, or if they were Chads? 

Proc passed the rows of cubicles containing the infants arriving at the end of the corridor. He opened up the door at the end, revealing the main computer set up of the Chad’s. 

The rest of us exchanged worried glances at each other, before remembering our mission. To stop the Chads. As much as I wanted to try and crack the mystery behind the children, now was not the time. 

Proc approached the computer that was waiting inside. The monitors flashed strange texts that I couldn’t decipher and lots of techno jargon. 

Dew snatched the flash drive out of Proc’s hand and stuffed it into his own grubby paw.

Cyla screamed at Dew to stop what he was doing. 

“My scanners got a read on Captain TAD. He’s coming right NOW!”

Everyone halted, and Dew dropped the flash drive on the floor.

“Damn it at to hell, I take out an Officer, and now we have to deal with a Captain as well. Thank fucking tastic,” as he stomped madly on the floor.

Dew seemed to keep his cool around the previous Chad, but he was slowly losing his patience.

Captain Tad stomped into the massive room that we were located in, passing the infants and cells that lined the previous area.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here? A nice juicy pack of gamers. Fresh meat to be vaporized by my banhammer,” he twirled the hammer through his massive hands, before pausing in the air, pointing it at us.

“Game on, motherfucker,” Dew laughed and pelted Captain Tad with more of his drinks.

The power suit that Tad wore didn’t seem to offer enough protection against them, with the side of his robotic, armored hand, starting to burn. 

“It even affects, your little armor too, punk,” Dew laughed.

Dew’s fake bravdo was shattered just a moment later.

Tad started roaring like a ferocious lion, exploding the rest of the oncoming drinks, with a parry of his banhammer.

Dew’s jaw dropped. 

Tad’s screams became so ear piercing that some of our squad, started covering their ears, to protect themselves from the strain.

Tad exploded three gamers to my left, their own protective gear not helping them against the mighty blows of the banhammer. 

They simply disintegrated. Not even the clothes remained.

The ban hammer started glowing with increasing frequency, blinding lights span around the white complex, making people drop in its mere presence. 

It glowed red, then blue, then white. Dust in the air was being vaporized when it touched the hammer, causing some sort of air pocket around the entire thing. 

Tad’s meaty face beamed with psychotic excitement, his face turning red, as the sweat ran down his cheeks. 

“Oh, you gamers. You NEVER learn”.

I thought of my old gaming buddies. The ones that the Citchadel made ‘disappear’. Determination ran in my veins, as I charged Tad, grabbing my NES zapper, jumping in the air and spamming the entire ammo of the weapon. 

Tad was sent flying back, crashing into the walls, toppling them over in the process.

Fiery sparks of dust and wood chipped around the building, as Tad jumped to his feet, roaring, once more, and charging us as if was he was a human battering ram. 

He crushed four gamers in front of me, sending them in a collapsed pile of gamer goo. 

He locked eyes with me, who was cowering in fear behind my protective mask. He picked up two gamers and threw them at me. I tried dodging the human bullets, like I was a character from one of the banned futuristic films, making it out of the danger in the nick of time. 

Kuro popped up behind Tad, and slashed the Hammer out of his hands, making Tad lose his massive hand in the process. Tad screamed out in pain.

This was our chance.

I ran past everyone, snapped up the flashdrive, and flung myself into a stumbling mess in the monitor's direction. I inserted it into the computer, as the system beeped, receiving the input of the device.

The Mystical Clowns appeared on screen once more, dancing across the screen. The plan was to steal some of the tech and return to the Society of Gamers. Fat chance that would be working out now.

I pressed play on the game and everything stopped. 

I was blasted backward, with the flashdrive exploding out of the device in a flash of green light. My entire body started shaking. I couldn’t control my movements at all. My body sprawled on the floor, with my muscles spazzing out, as I prayed that Tad wouldn’t spot me in such a vulnerable position. 

Well shit. 

He noticed what was happening on the monitor, and with a flash of realization in his eyes, he charged forward, weaponless, at me. 

His giant hand collided with something. Kuro protected me with a block of his katana, as Dew was flinging energy drinks madly in every direction, trying to stop Tad’s fast movements. 

Tad towered over the pair of us, as we cowered in fear. Kuro crumpled onto his knee, Tad’s remaining armored hand was just too strong. 

Tad stopped suddenly. He reached into his pocket and brought out a device. A remote of some kind. He pressed the big, comical, red button on it, causing the entire complex to lurch. 

Half the floor of the room lurched, dropping down to the abyss below. A good chunk of gamers spiraled down into the depths below, as I and Kuro peered over the edge. Tad stood on our side of the building, grinning at us. He thought he had won. As far as I was concerned, he was right.

“K-kuro, I spat out. Put the flash drive in my pocket. P-please,” I whispered to him, my body still in an unusable state.

Kuro quickly stuffed it into my pocket, as we both shivered in fear. We knew what would happen next. 

A last battalion of gamers came to our rescue, led by Cyla. They hit Tad with everything they had, but it was not enough. Tad walked forward, using his only hand to pick up gamers and chuck them into the gaping hole. 

One gamer after another was thrown into the expansive gap, until it was finally just me, Kuro, and Cyla. Tad snarled at us, bearing his white gleaming fangs, that some would call teeth. He picked up Cyla and violently chucked her into the expanse.

“CYLA!,” I screamed as she fell down into the depths.

“Now even your pathetic little gamer girlfriend is gone,” Tad snarled at me. You think you two can do anything to stop me now?”

I looked around, it was just the two of us left. Even Dew wasn’t here, going out in a raging furry, chucking energy drinks everywhere, as the green liquid stained the walls dripping down.

“Go”.

I looked at Kuro. 

“I can buy you time. You do like her right? Go, save her”. 

I crawled across the floor, towards the gaping hole, my body still recovering from the earlier incident. 

“WHERE DO YOU THINK YOUR GOING!,” Tad screamed at me. “YOU THINK A PUNK as YOU CAN SURVIVE DOWN THERE. DON’T MAKE ME FUCKING LAUGH!”.  
Kuro slid across the floor, his cargo shorts getting stained with the green energy drink in the process.

He blocked the onslaught of blows that Tad aimed at me, protecting me from an unfortunate fate with his katana. 

Did he really want me to do this?

I looked at Kuro, and as if he read my mind, with his other hand he removed his fedora, tipping it in my direction.

I nodded back.

I was going to do this.

I crawled to the edge of the hole, and dropped in, as the air whirred past my ears, the darkness devouring me whole, as I dropped to my uncertain fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Gitaxian and Griever for various contributions.
> 
>  
> 
> Edit: one more thing. If you're curious about whether there will be anything resembling a conclusion to this chapter, yes, I've been thinking about that for some time. It'll take a while to produce though, whatever specific form it ends up taking. Working on Chapter 5 took months, and came right down to the wire. I've got more time now though obviously. But that said, I'm not in a huge hurry at this point. Keep an eye out here for developments. There should be plenty of other news in coming months too.


End file.
